Gestating bodies: sensing foetal movement in first‐time pregnancy

Abstract

A large body of literature engages with personal accounts of pregnancy to illustrate the subjugation of women's embodied experience by practices of biomedicine. This article explores this issue through women's accounts of sensing initial foetal movement, drawn from qualitative interviews with 15 women resident in the UK. Participants depict this aspect of pregnant embodiment as ambiguous and indefinite, in contrast to clinical and popular representations of foetal movement. In highlighting the uncertainties characteristic of this corporeal event, the article adds to literature destabilising understandings of pregnant women's and foetal bodies as bounded and distinct. Ambiguous experiences of foetal movement arise in the context of sociocultural framings of pregnancy as 'at risk', and in turn, may be seen to contribute to these representations, with some participants articulating that uncertain sensations could provoke anxiety. In this article, perceptions of foetal movement are emphasised as valuable to women, and as inextricable from the social settings in which they emerge. This research has implications for sociological and feminist discussions of pregnancy, and work exploring the mutual shaping of corporeality and sociocultural contexts more widely.

Jumping Through Hoops: Families’ Experiences of Pre-birth Child Protection

“…Yet, their ongoing and intimate relationship to the unborn baby was always in question and could only be assured to last until the end of the pregnancy. The expectant mothers were in a particularly challenging relationship to their unborn babies due to the embodied nature of their connection (Ross, 2018). Although there are clear and important differences in terms of the investment in and claim to the unborn child of the women taking part in this study of pre-birth child protection, theoretical parallels with research into surrogacy may be drawn.…”

“…This was a state of mind that Bill attributed to his partner Tracy and which she confirmed in the following extract from an interview with them both together: 'Bill: She's [Tracy's] like that, "I want it [the baby] to stay in forever, I don't want it to come out ever." Tracy: I don't want it [the baby] to come out, nuht, I dinnae want it to come out [no, I don't In this state of suspended animation, Tracy could continue to be the mother of her unborn baby and no other person could come between them to disrupt her identity as a mother, or the close physical relationship (Ross 2018) Tracy experienced with her daughter. Expectant mother Nancy felt that whilst her pregnancy continued, the unborn baby ought not to be considered in child protection meetings.…”

Assisted gestative technologies

“…34 There are 'distinct and at times dramatic changes to a woman's somatic experience' during pregnancy. 35 As de Beauvoir puts it, 'pregnancy is above all a drama playing itself out in the woman between her and herself '. 36 Pregnancy is not always experienced by individuals as (wholly) negative-the point is just that, it is a unique form of labour affecting many aspects of how an individual feels in themselves and about themselves as their body transcends itself.…”

“…There are ‘distinct and at times dramatic changes to a woman’s somatic experience’ during pregnancy 35. As de Beauvoir puts it, ‘pregnancy is above all a drama playing itself out in the woman between her and herself’ 36.…”

Becoming a diagnostic agent: A collated ethnography of digital-sensory work in caregiving intra-actions

“…Early contributions on the digital-sensory work of caregivers contest some claims of mothers' disembodiment in response to medical dominance. In pregnancy, mothers' dual attention to foetal movement and ultrasound images can be synergistic (Ross, 2019;Schmied and Lupton, 2001). In relation to tracking, one mother described using an app to understand her child's sleep needs, following an observation of crankiness (Lupton and Maslen, 2018).…”